The chemical ecology of a model aphid pest, Myzus persicae, and its natural enemies

Background

The peach-potato aphid, Myzus persicae, has a very short generation time, high reproductive rate and can spread easily. It has the ability to evolve detoxification mechanisms for toxic chemicals, be they from the wide range of host plants it feeds on or be they from insecticides people use to protect crops from the damage they cause and the diseases they transmit. All these ecological factors make it a very serious agricultural pest. Furthermore, issues with insecticide resistance and banning of neonicotinoid insecticides in Europe mean that new interventions for managing it are urgently needed. The genome sequence of M. persicae has been done and so has the sequence of potato, one of its main host plants. Thus, it is a good model organism for studying insect-plant interactions. Natural enemies, particularly parasitic wasps are important for naturally regulating populations of aphids such as M. persicae. 

Plant secondary metabolites are plant chemicals produced in addition to the primary chemicals required for basic plant functioning. It is known that plant secondary metabolites play a role in plant defence. The project will explore how plant secondary metabolites affect the performance of both the aphid M. persicae and its natural enemy the parasitic wasp Diaeretiella rapae. It will investigate how plant secondary metabolites may play a role as semiochemicals. Semiochemicals are signalling chemicals that influence insect behaviour and may affect aphid host colonisation decisions and also host location by D. rapae.